Aila of Tawfeek
Queen Aila of Dynasty Tawfeek (March 2nd, 1970-present) is the current reigning Monarch of the Kingdom of Northern Levant. Biography Early life Aila of Tawfeek was born to Habbib of Tawfeek and Najaah of Tawfeek on March 11th, 1970, in Damascus as their first child. Aila's father named her his heir, as he did not view sex as a limitation to what a person could achieve. As a result, Aila was privately tutored for most of her educational career to insure that she became a good leader of the nation when she ascended to the throne. Her brother Hani was born in 1973, though her father did not alter his decision because his second child was male. Much to the displeasure of the more conservative members of government, Aila kept the title of heir to the throne. At the age of 18, Aila was enrolled into the University of Beirut. She graduated at the age of 23 with a masters in administrative law, and during the same year was given a position in the Councilary Court of Law of Northern Levant as a secretary. She met Ashraf Ahmed at the age of 24, and the two began dating in a Western fashion. Reign In 1996, her grandfather King Ammar and the title of monarch was passed on to her father. However, her father did not want to be named monarch, and instead of becoming the King he stepped down from power. As his heir, Aila inherited the throne at the age of 25, and became the first female leader within the contemporary Middle East. At first, Saudi Arabia and several other conservative Arab nations refused to recognize Aila as the leader of the country, but gradually the more conservative nations recognized Aila's ascension. Her first edict as monarch was to liberalize the country's human rights policies, and many religion-based laws were taken out of the nation's civic code. Aila married Ashraf Ahmed in 1998, and their first tiwns, Diya and Dhakiy, were born in 1999. Her daughter Sahar was born in 2000. In the early 2000s, with the outbreak of instability in the Middle East, Aila began concentrating economic policies to focus on self growth and the regulation of the petroleum industry. Through successful manipulation of foreign trade and the focused growth of certain industries, Aila further diversified the economic structure of the nation to insure that the country was not completely reliant on the petroleum industry. While petroleum operations remained important to the nation, the interference of the flow of oil to foreign markets would not completely destroy the economy under her reforms. Her economic policies allowed the country to sustain the Great Global Recession of 2007-2008 with minimal damage. The region became highly unstable again in 2011 with the outbreak of protests in Egypt to overthrow its autocratic government. Fearing that international trade would be disrupted by the violence via the Suez Canal, Aila ordered seizure of the Canal and surrounding territory to insure it would remain open to the global market. Although this move received condemnation from the Egyptian government, she viewed it as critical to maintaining the economic stability of trade with nations in the Middle East and North Africa. While the idea of overthrowing the Levanti monarchy was opened by the people of the nation, Aila's impressive reign and relaxed views on human rights ended the thoughts of revolution throughout the nation. Controversy Aila has been criticized by multiple conservative Muslim nations for being a female leader. Groups practicing jihad have had multiple attempts at her life throughout her reign, though tougher border laws and patrols has eased this problem considerably. Other conservative nations, led by Saudi Arabia, have denounced Northern Levant for allowing a woman to take power. Though relations were reestablished and now well with most other Middle Eastern nations since the early 2000s, some conservatives in the region view her reign with great disdain. Though criticized by some Eastern nations, Western nations have praised Northern Levant and Aila for breaking the "sexist tradition of male-only leaders." Feminist rights group FEMEN named Aila a "hero of womankind" in October 2011. The rule of Aila has also been criticized in the area of criminal punishment. When Aila took the throne, several Western nations expected her to ease the criminal punishment system of the country. While some laws were taken away from the legal system, she did not ease criminal punishment. Many Western rights groups decried that the justice system was too harsh to be considered humane, as the most common form of punishment within the country is intense labor. While many Western nations view the country's criminal rights as inhumane, they enjoy well relations with Northern Levant. Some of the rights protected by Aila's government do not include every possible right of the citizens. The government monitors internet, telephone, radio, newspapers, and television, meaning there is no truly independent media source. Many websites deemed to be inciting of violence, terrorism, or rebellion are blacklisted within the country. Assemblies also have to be registered and accepted by the city governments before they can take place, and any assembly that begins without government approval is broken up by police. While buildings, most public areas, and other privately owned institutions are not directly monitored by the government, it is not uncommon in some more unstable or poorer areas for the police or military to patrol and observe citizens. Beliefs *Same-sex marriage: Partial *Abortion: Partial *Death penalty: Yes *Torture methods: Yes *Nuclear weapons: No *Equal rights: Yes *Innocent until proven guilty: No *Legal suicide: Yes *Criminal rights: Yes *Weapon rights: Partial *Privacy rights: Partial *Freedom of speech: Partial *Freedom of press: Partial *Freedom of assembly: Partial *Freedom of religion: Yes Category:Northern Levant Category:Individuals Category:Levanti individuals